Ba 巴 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ?–316 BC | |||||||
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| Capital | Yíchéng (夷城) Píngdū (平都) Zhǐ (枳) Jīangzhōu (江州) Diànjīang (垫江) Langzhong(閬中) | ||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | ? | ||||||
• Disestablished | 316 BC | ||||||
| |||||||
| Today part of | China | ||||||
Ba (Chinese:巴;pinyin:Bā;lit. 'a pictograph for "elephant-eating snake',[1]Old Chinese:*Pˤra) was anancient state in easternSichuan, China. Its original capital was Yicheng (Enshi City),Hubei. Ba was conquered byQin in 316 BC. The historicalBo people and the modernTujia people trace some of their origins back to the people of Ba.[2]
Ba, often described as a looseconfederation or collection ofchiefdoms, consisted of several loosely affiliated independent clans who recognized a king. The Ba clans were highly diverse, being composed of multiple tribes. Archeological evidence shows that the Ba people primarily relied on fishing and hunting, with low levels of horticulture or agriculture, and no evidence ofirrigation.[3]
Ba originally included territory in theHan Valley and had its capital atYicheng, Hubei; however the ascendance ofChu pushed Ba westwards and further into theSichuan Basin. Chu expansion also forced Ba to move its capital several times. According to the 4th century CEChronicles of Huayang byChang Qu, capitals or administrative centers of Ba included Jiangzhou (Chongqing), Dianjiang (Hechuan District), and Pingdu (Fengdu), with its final capital atLangzhong. During theWarring States period, Qin, Chu andShu, all more powerful states, shared a common border with Ba.[citation needed]
The earliest evidence of human settlement in the region is found at the Heliang site nearFengdu and is dated to 15,000 years ago. ANeolithic site found atDaxi dates from 5000 to 3000 BC while a late Neolithic site (c. 2000 BC) was found at Zhongba inZhongxian.[4] The Ba people descended from the Wuluo Zhongli Mountain (武落钟离山) located in Changyang county, Hubei (难留山). The mountain had two caves, one red and one black. The son of the Ba clan was born in the red cave, while the sons of the other four tribes were born in the black cave.[5] The earliest ancestors claim origin from Wudan (巫诞), likely referring to Wu Commandery (巫郡) from theState of Chu. Dan can also be written as a homophone for a tribe of the Ba. Recent research suggests the Dan were remnants of the Yue. The Sui Shu (隋书) Volume 82 on the Nanman says that some of the Ba people were ancientBaiyue. This suggests the Ba ruling lineage had mixed origins containing Pu Yue (濮越) and Han (华夏族) influence.[6]
According toBook of the Later Han, the founder of the state of Ba was Lord Lin (Chinese:廪君). In this account, there were originally five clans: the Ba, Fan (樊), Shen (瞫), Xiang (相), and Zheng (鄭), and they organized a contest to determine who should be the chief:
The clans did not yet have a leader, and they worshiped the ghosts and spirits. Together they made a pact: whosoever that could throw a dagger and have it lodged in a particular stone crevice high up a cliff would be chief. Of all the competitors, only a son of the Ba Clan, Wuxiang, was able to achieve the target, and when he did so all present sighed with admiration. Again they made a competition, giving each competitor a rustic boat and swearing, "he who keeps himself afloat [on these rough waters] shall be chief!" Again Wuxiang prevailed, while all the other boats sank. So they made him chief, calling him Lord Lin.
Lord Lin led the people to settle in Yicheng in present-day southwestern Hubei near Sichuan. The first Ba settlement in Sichuan wasPeiling (also called Zhi), reputedly the burial ground of the earliest Ba kings.[9]When lord Lin died, his soul became a white tiger (白虎). The Ba Clan thus fed on tiger's blood and made human sacrifices in his honour.[5] The Ba absorbed other tribes it encountered, such as the Pu (濮), Zong (賨), Ju (苴), Gong (龔), Nu (奴), Rang (獽), Yi (夷) and Dan (蜑) tribes, therefore Ba was in reality a confederation of different groups.[9] The Pu for example were a widespread tribe ranging fromHenan toGuizhou and referred to as theHundred Pu (百濮) due to their variety, and the Ju was a state in north central Sichuan, while the Dan were said to live on water, and the Rang were a people from the southeastern part of the Ba state known for their cliff burials.[10]
Mentions of a "Ba country" appeared inShang dynastyoracle bones from the 13th century BC where the king of Shang contemplated attacking the Ba.[9] The state of Ba may have aided the founders of theZhou dynasty in its overthrow of the Shang at theBattle of Muye in 1046 BC. However, Ba's first definitive appearance in recorded history occurred in 703 BC; theZuo Zhuan records that Ba took part in a joint military operation with Chu againstDeng. Although Chu sometimes encroached on Ba territory, Ba shared a complex relationship with Chu, with strong trade and marriage ties. Chu also employed many Ba mercenaries as soldiers in its own army. This practice sometimes caused problems for Chu; in one instance, Ba mercenaries employed by Chu rebelled and besieged the Chu capital in 676 or 675 BC.
TheZuo Zhuan described the Ba as one of the southern lands loyal to the Zhou. Zhou dynasty seemed to have maintained close relations with the Ba state by granting some of them use of the Royal Surname and marrying Ba wives.[11]
In 316 BC, Ba and Chu allied with Qin to invade Shu. However, after the successful conquest of Shu, Qin immediately turned on its two allies and captured the last Ba king. The Ba state was extinguished and converted into a Qin commandery. Unlike its management of Shu, Qin allowed the Ba elite to retain direct rule and did not force large-scale migrations of Qin people into Ba territory. The Ba elite would later be marginalized through a policy ofdivide and rule.[citation needed]
As thestate of Chu expanded westward up the Han and Yangtze valleys it pushed the people of Ba west toward Shu. In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE in Sichuan archaeologists hold that this interaction helped createBa–Shu culture.
Thetiger was an important part of Ba mythology, with thewhite tiger being held in highest esteem. According to legend, the first king of Ba, Lord Lin, transformed into a white tiger upon his death.[3] Artifacts from Ba archaeological sites often employ tiger motifs. Archaeological evidence also suggests the Ba people may have practised human sacrifice,[3] whichBook of the Later Han indicates was made to the white tiger spirit of Lord Lin.[12]
Warfare played an important role in Ba society. Their warriors were often employed as mercenaries by other states; they played a role in the defeat ofXiang Yu by Liu Bang (laterEmperor Gaozu of Han), and later served theHan dynasty.[13]
Weapons were prevalent in Ba grave goods, some with distinctive curved blades. Other distinctive features of Ba culture are their boat-shaped coffin burials, and they used Ba-style bronze drums (錞于, similar toĐông Sơn drums), topped with the figure of a tiger, to communicate in battle. As in other states of ancient China, they made beautiful bronzedings orsacrificial tripods, sometimes with writing on them.[14]
The Ba people were known for the musical abilities and gave the Chinese a distinctive dance style and music that was popular for many centuries after the state had ceased to exist. The dance, calledBa Yu (Chinese:巴渝, later renamed theZhaowu,昭武) dance, was first brought to prominence by Emperor Gaozu of Han, who enjoyed their war dances. Large-scale performances of the dance involved the brandishing of various weapons to the accompaniment of drums and songs in the Ba language. It remained popular through theTang dynasty and spread as far as Central Asia.[15]
The Bashu culture developed writing systems with symbols that appear to be unrelated toChinese characters. ThreeBa–Shu scripts have been found on bronzeware, none of which have beendeciphered. One apparentlypictographic script was used to decorate weapons found in Ba graves in eastern Sichuan. The second script is found in both western and eastern Sichuan, on weapons, a belt buckle and on the base of a bronze vessel. Some scholars believe this script to bephonetic, pointing to similarities between some of the symbols and symbols of the laterYi script. The third script (possibly also phonetic) is known only from an inscription on the lid of a bronze vessel found in a grave in Baihuatan,Chengdu.[16]
Ba is represented by the starEpsilon Serpentis in asterismRight Wall,Heavenly Market enclosure.[17]
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